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Rubery Owen Holdings Ltd... Rubery Owen (Conveyancer) Ltd


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  • Rubery Owen Holdings Ltd
  • Rubery Owen (Conveyancer) Ltd

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  • This company was originally incorporated as the Liverpool Refrigeration and Engineering Company Ltd on 4 June 1937 when Petters Ltd (later Associated British Engineering Ltd) purchased the business which was then in liquidation. The original business was founded as a private company in 1897 to make refrigeration plant. It owned the Polar Works at Sankey, near Warrington, and some refrigeration patents. In 1938, its parent company, Associated British Engineering, and Rubery Owen & Co Ltd had purchased shares in Aviation Engineering (Messier) Co.Ltd from the Messier Aircraft Co. Ltd who owned the UK licence to manufacture aircraft undercarriages. At the same time the Refrigeration company had started to manufacture paravanes for the Admiralty and ack-ack and artillery shells for the War Office. The refrigeration business was sold to J.& E.Hall Ltd in 1939, and the company acquired the assets and business of Aviation Engineering (Messier) Co. Ltd and started to make undercarriages for the Handley Page Halifax bomber. The company was restructured when Rubery, Owen & Co. Ltd obtained control and its name was changed to Rubery Owen Messier Ltd on 17 July 1939. Rubery Owen held 50,000 shares, Associated British Engineering held 10,000 shares and the owners of the Messier patents, Aeronautical and Mechanical Inventions Ltd, held 5,000 shares. In 1942 the engineering work was transferred to a new company, Rubery Owen (Warrington) Ltd, and in 1946 the manufacture of fork lift trucks was started in order to offset the reduced demand from the aircraft industry. These trucks were sold under the trade name of CONVEYANCER, and by the 'sixties accounted for about two thirds of the company's production, the remainder of the work being for the aircraft industry. The following name changes took place: 21 April 1943 Messier Aircraft Equipment Ltd, 29 March 1946 Electro-Hydraulics (Messier) Ltd, 22 November 1946 Electro-Hydraulics Ltd. In many respects the name changes reflected the company's growing expertise in hydraulic engineering to meet the demands of new markets. In June 1964 the company was restructured to enable the parent company to raise capital for the Owen Organisation. The authorised capital was increased by £1.350m to £1.750m and re-organised so as to consist of seven million shares of five shillings each. On 9 July the company was converted to a public company and 40% of the issued share capital (2.4 m shares) were offered for sale to the public. The issue was fully subscribed. The shares were re-purchased in 1970 and it reverted to being a wholy-owned subsidiary of Rubery Owen Holdings Ltd . In the following year the company disengaged from the manufacture of undercarriages and hydraulic equipment for the aircraft industry and all production and product support responsibilities were sold to Dowty Rotol Ltd. As a result on 4 November its name was changed to Conveyancer Ltd. (At the same time the name of Electro-Hydraulics was preserved by changing the name of Gasel Appliances Ltd and keeping it as a dormant company). In 1973 the decision was taken to merge the business of Rubery Owen Mechanical Equipment Ltd and Conveyancer Ltd and its name was changed to Rubery Owen Conveyancer Ltd. ROMEL continued to operate as a separate company holding the Container patents and the Drott licence. The new company had manufacturing facilities at Warrington, Darlaston, Wednesbury, Prees, Wrexham and Kirkby, Lancs. and manufactured the Conveyancer range of Fork Trucks, and the Rubery Owen Travelift, Karricon and Karrilift machines. In an effort to stem the cash outflow which was taking place in Darlaston, Rubery Owen Holdings Ltd determined to sell the business and in March 1977 all the Conveyancer subsidiaries were taken over by the parent company, and in the following June ROCON's business and some of its properties were sold to Coventry Climax Ltd. At the same time Conveyancer-Scott Electric Vehicles Ltd became the new Rubery Owen Conveyancer Ltd and the company continued to manufacture C Containers and Drott equipment at Kings Hill, Wednesbury, until that division became Rubery Owen Karritainers Ltd in 1978. Rubery Owen Conveyancer Ltd continued to hold property until it closed in 1980.
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